This invention relates to the Internet, and more particularly, to techniques for creating and viewing material on the World Wide Web in the form of an interactive Web book.
The World Wide Web has made the Internet accessible to a broad range of people. One can search the Web and view a large amount of material using a Web browser. However, there is no satisfactory framework within the Web to encourage contributions of new material while rewarding contributors for their efforts. As a result, many people who might make meaningful contributions of entertaining or educational material to the World Wide Web do not make such contributions.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a way in which to facilitate the contribution of material using a data network such as the World Wide Web and to compensate the contributors of such material.
This and other objects of the invention are accomplished in accordance with the principles of the present invention by providing an interactive Web book (xe2x80x9cibookxe2x80x9d) system. An ibook is a self-extending, self-sustaining information-redistributing Web robot, which is resident on a data network such as the Internet or an intranet. Material in an ibook is preferably organized in the form of Web pages. Material may be in text, two-dimensional, three-dimensional or n-dimensional graphics, animation, audio, video, source or executable code, or any type of multimedia format. Within each Web page, material may be organized in passages. Passages can be of any suitable size, such as a paragraph for textual material, or a video or audio clip of a certain length for multimedia material.
Users can preferably enroll as viewers of the ibook or as contributors to the ibook. Viewers are allowed to view (i.e., read, hear, observe, observe the behavior of, etc.) material in the ibook. Presentation of ibook material for viewing may involve the execution of computer code associated with or contained in that material. Contributors can view material and can contribute material. The contributed material can be original or can be based on the work of other contributors.
Works that are created based on previously contributed material are called derivations. When a contributor uses certain authoring functions in the ibook system, such as by performing a cut and paste operation from existing material or by using a compiler of the contributor""s to compile existing source code, attribution links are automatically formed between the material in the derivation and the original material. This attribution information is preferably used by the ibook system in rewarding contributors. Contributors are rewarded based on the amount that their material is accessed by viewers. The more often a contributor""s material is used (either directly or indirectly), the more that contributor will be rewarded. Preferably, the reward may be made in the form of an automatic monetary distribution by the ibook system.
As ibook material is created, derivation information is compiled that can be used by the ibook navigation system when a user desires to view material in an ibook. For example, when viewing a passage for which a derivation exists, the viewer can be presented with the option of viewing the derivation. The viewer is also presented with options for navigating through the material in an ibook based on a selected author, subject matter, media type, etc.
The ibook system may automatically advertise its presence to various search engines by transmitting suitable keyword information (e.g., keyword information identifying the subject matter of the contents of the ibook) to databases associated with the search engines.
If desired, new ibooks may be spawned by replicating the content and structure of an existing ibook. Replicating may be achieved by copying material or by creating references from the new ibook to the existing ibook.
Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.